Bulgaria Declares Nationwide Flu Epidemic

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria declared a nationwide influenza epidemic on Thursday to deal with the rapid rise of type B flu cases in the Balkan country, the health minister said.

All schools in the Black Sea state of 7 million were closed to March 11 as the health ministry also recommended discontinuing university lectures and all large-scale public events, including sports and cultural events.

Last week the ministry has detected nearly 4,000 cases of flu but the number of infected patients rose drastically over the past few days, experts said, adding that those under 29 years old are the most vulnerable.

"There has never been such a dramatic increase in the number of people, infected with B flu in Bulgaria," Todor Kantardzhiev, head of the National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, said.